"Oh really?? I am sorry, my mind must have been somewhere else entirely." replied Wura as she finally noticed that Mero was drenched in water from head to toe.
"I thought that maybe you were not in your tent." said Mero as Wura could see the worry slowly disappearing from his eyes.
"Oh my goodness Mero, you are soaked, what happened?" asked Wura in concern as she quickly turned around to find him a towel.
Mero looked down at himself as for the first time he realized that he truly was soaked. There was not a single part of him that was not wet. He was extremely soaked in water, even his hair was very wet.
"My tent was blown away by the wind." he replied as Wura finally found a towel on the chair and she handed it to Mero.
"It did??" asked Wura in surprise as Mero nodded as he dried himself.
"Yes, the wind was just too strong, it unhooked itself from the ground and I tried to fix it, but the entire thing flew away." said Mero as Wura shook her head.
"Oh no Mero, I am so sorry." said Wura.
"There is nothing to be sorry about." said Mero as Wura could not see his face as he dried it with the towel.
"But there is, I was also worried that my tent would blow away, but it did not, I wonder why yours did?" she asked, it was either she was very lucky or Mero was very unlucky, or neither, because this was to be expected, tents could not survive harsh weather just like this.
"When we were to leave yesterday, my tent was the one that the knights began to take down, so I guess that when they heard that we were staying they did not tie the ropes as tightly as they should have." he replied as he looked at Wura who appeared to be very worried.
"I guess that might be it, but the rain is just too heavy, I am worried that other people in the valley are facing the same thing you did with your tent." she replied as the rain was still very heavy outside, and so was the wind.
"I doubt it, we are a little bit more elevated than they are, that must explain why the wind is so strong up here, I have a feeling that they are safer down there." he replied as Wura looked at him, she never took that thought into consideration.
"I see..." she said as Mero nodded.
"What is wrong? You seem worried." said Mero as her worried eyes were the first thing that he had noticed when he walked in here.
"You are still drenched Mero, and your clothes are very wet, if you stay in them any longer you might catch a cold." she said as she avoided his question and instead proceeded to give him another dry towel as she took the wet one and left it on the table.
"I doubt I will, I am used to the cold." he replied as Wura shook her head, clearly not pleased, she looked down at his feet only to see that where he was standing, there was a little puddle on the ground.
"It does not matter if you were born in the cold as well, you are still human, and the way you would take care of me is the way I will take care of you." she said sternly as Mero did not know what to say, she seemed very serious about this.
"So you need to change out of those wet clothes now." she said.
"I would, but my belongings are still out there in the ruins of what used to be my tent." he replied.
"And I certainly cannot go back out there to get them." said Mero.
"I am sure that I will be fine, my clothes will dry soon." he said as he tried to assure Wura that he was fine, but she did not seem convinced at all.
Wura looked around, she did not have any male clothing in her belongings, and she doubted that any of her clothes would fit Mero, so he had no choice than to stay in those wet clothes.
"But staying in them is not advisable." said Wura as she sighed, thinking of what to do.
"Alright, you know what, take of your shirt and your shoes, do it now." she said, her voice sounding more like a command than a statement.
Mero did not even know when he had nodded in agreement, but he did, and before he knew it, he had began unbuttoning soaked shirt and he removed his shoes as well as Wura demanded that they be handed to her.
"Thank you." she said as he handed the items to her and she placed his shoes in a corner and his shirt she hung on the mirror so it would be able to dry quicker.
"Now sit down here." she said as she pointed to the couch and he nodded and walked over there and sat down as Wura grabbed one of the blankets on her bed and she wrapped it over him.
She did not care what he said. He was a man, and every human being felt cold, she would not take it if he was acting as if the cold did not bother him, she did not want him to get sick, not at all.
Wura poured Mero a warm glass of water and handed it to him as the look in her eyes told him that he had no other choice than to drink it. So he drank it as Wura watched him intently, making sure that he did.
Mero had to admit, he had never had someone fuss over him like this. It was strange... and yet it felt kind of nice to have someone worry about you like this. It gave him a warm feeling on the inside, and he was sure that it was not just the blanket's warmth.
"There, now do you feel warm?" she asked as he nodded.
"Good." she said as she sat down on her bed and sighed.
"What is worrying you?" Mero asked again, now it was his turn to fuss over her, there was obviously something on her mind that she was not telling him.
Wura looked at Mero, it was obvious that she could not lie to him and say that there was nothing wrong.
"Nothing really..." said Wura as Mero shot her an unbelieving look.
"I am serious Mero, it is nothing really important, it is just that, you startled me when you first came in." said Wura.
"I already heard your footsteps outside my tent and I was scared because I thought that it was an assassin sent to kill me." she said, saying the last part of her sentence softly.
She looked at Mero who was silent, but she knew that he was worrying on the inside. The last thing he wanted her to do was worry, and yet she was doing just that.
"I am sorry that you felt scared to that extent." said Mero.
"It is not your fault Mero." said Wura.
"But it is, I should have assured you that you are safe here, you are safe." he repeated.
"As long as I am here, I will make sure to protect you, and even though I might not always be near you, I promise you that no harm will come to you on my watch." said Mero as his assuring words made Wura feel warm.
She felt her initial feelings of fear being destroyed by the warmth, hope and assurance of his words. Every time Mero spoke like this, it sounded like a promise, a promise to her and a promise to himself.
"I know Mero, you have said that so many times, and I should know by now that I am safe." said Wura as she smiled.
"It is not your fault, it is only human to feel scared sometimes." he said as Wura smiled.
"Do you ever feel scared?" she asked, because frankly, he never showed any emotion on his face other than calmness and very rare instances of frustration.
"Do not take it the wrong way, but I ask because you rarely show fear, and I wonder if that is because you have seen quite a lot of awful things in war and beyond." she added.
"It is alright Wura, I know why you asked and..." he said.
"I am still human like you politely reminded me a few moments ago." he said as Wura chuckled.
"And yes, I do feel fear, I feel scared, sometimes." he said as Wura looked at him intently.
"Then what do you do when you feel scared?" she asked curiously.
"When you feel so scared that you do not know what to do... what do you do?" she asked as she could tell that this was a very personal question, Mero took a while before he finally answered.
"Well I think about the good things of life..." he replied.